Primetime Living 9.27.26 - Flipbook - Page 20
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| Sunday, September 27, 2026
Seniors and Cannabis
Continued from page 10
medical providers, both primary care
doctors and specialists.”
Vandrey explains the conundrum as
to whether or not a patient reports the
use of cannabis products to their physicians. “Part of the problem is it’s not
always legal to use cannabis products
and, although not an issue in Maryland,
there are some patients who won’t
admit to what they are doing. Still, many
are speaking to their MDs and that is
important. When you inform your medical professional what you are taking,
that person can let you know if there
are potential interactions that could
affect or harm you. With CBD, the acute
effects of the drug itself are usually relatively benign; however, oral CBD can
inhibit the metabolism of many other
medications, so it may increase the
risk of unexpected side effects, which
could be severe if taken with certain
medications. Taken at a high dose on a
daily basis, CBD has also been shown
to harm liver function in some people.”
Vandrey expanded on the value of
sharing cannabis use with one’s medical providers. “Yes, tell your provider
what you are taking and the form it’s
in. This is medically relevant information, and you should not withhold it,
just as you should share any OTC
(over the counter) supplements you
ingest regularly. With so many potential
complications, it is not in your best
interest. If you’re concerned that your
provider will ‘tell on you,’ the Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability
Act (HIPAA) protects you.”
If, on one hand, you don’t admit your
use, the medical professional can’t alert
you to a known potentially dangerous
interaction, even if she learns about it
later. Conversely, if you’ve had a positive interaction, maybe a researcher like
Vandrey could look into it and find it is
a help for others. For one of Vandrey’s
studies, he studied a variety of products
purchased from several dispensaries
and compared what the label said was
in the product to what a laboratory analysis found. The vast majority of edible
cannabis products carried labels that
overstated or understated the amount
of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol the
product actually contained. Most users
would not be happy to find they were
under-dosed or overdosed.
“At Johns Hopkins Medicine,” says
Vandrey, “we have found that many
patients are speaking with their practitioners. Those patients can be told
about potentially severe side effects
and warning signs. They can also help
us develop better recommendations
for those who are informing their practitioners. People should still be aware
that a cannabis product may not work
for one person as it does for another,
just as with any medication.
“If they are not seeking information
from an MD,” Vandrey warns, “you can
possibly use too much. As with opioids,
they may help with pain, but if you use
it every day, it may lose its efficacy over
a period of time. Only use it when you
need it.”
With cannabis, it’s very difficult to do
large scale clinical trials. There is simply
too wide a variance with the plants. And
even if a study was done with participants going to a dispensary, it would
only complicate the process and add
even more variables. To make it even
more complicated, there are different
forms, like gummies, or different types
of edibles, and that can affect absorption by the body. And each different
type will be changed as it goes through
your body’s system.
Today’s older adult population is
unique. They are very familiar with cannabis, whether they used it years ago
or not. Now that they are older, they
are more accepting of cannabis when
dealing with their individual aches and
pains – which can be good and bad.
Ultimately, the goal is to maximize the
benefits and minimize the harms.
A segment of the patient population
at Johns Hopkings Medicine is already
sharing information on cannabis with
their medical providers so they know a
need exists to figure out what benefits
cannabis can provide. For instance,
would using cannabis in tandem with a
particular medication mean you could
take a lower dosage? The only way this
can happen is if more people join in.
“We are still digging into the medication component,” Vandrey clarifies,
“and patients are still using their meds,
but there are the ones who are wary of
the pharmaceutical industry, so they are
continuing prescriptions and leaning
more on natural products like cannabis
or hemp. They are people who do see
their MDs and talk about their usage.
They think both can be helpful as they
affect the body differently, and they
choose the combination so that they
get the best of both worlds. Right now,
we are in the ‘trial and error’ phase.
But, with the advent of electronic health
records, if patients report their use and
the doctors document it well, we can
study the health effects of medicinal
cannabis use in a way that can lead to
more precise recommendations related
to cannabis use, such as what type of
product is associated with positive versus negative results for a certain health
condition. This can ultimately advance
the integration of cannabis in medicine and might lead to FDA approval
or insurance reimbursement for use of
regulated cannabis products for a variety of health conditions where we see
initial promise.”
So, we’re back to the question of
how widespread cannabis usage is.
According to the National Survey
on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH),
an annual survey sponsored by the
Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration (SAHSHA) and
updated in 2025, about 10 percent of
the older adult population in the U.S.
has used cannabis in the last year, and
the preferred method of use was smoking, followed by eating or drinking.
One last statistic from the NSDUH:
Over 12.5 percent of the older adult
population have some form of mental
illness, and more than 12.7 million older
adults (16.0%) received mental health
treatment in the past year. The findings
of this study suggest that older adults
are increasingly turning to cannabis
for symptom management; health care
systems should consider motivations
and concerns in physician guidance
and resources.
Medical professionals are there to
guide you, support you, and keep you
as healthy as possible. Sharing information with them is in your best interest.
